MAN DOES NOT KNOW WHAT LIES AT THE CORE OF THE EARTH

IT'S INTERESTING HOW MUCH SCIENCE CLAIMS TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE BUT REALLY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW MUCH ABOUT OUR OWN EARTH... FOR EXAMPLE THE DEEPEST HOLE EVER DUG INTO THE EARTH'S 21 MILE CRUST WAS ONLY APPROXIMATELY 7.5 MILES (12.262 kilometers) ... AND IT TOOK THE RUSSIAN'S 24 YEARS UNTIL THEY FINALLY STOPPED IN 1994... NOW THE MANTLE IS OVER 1774 MILES! I GUESS IT'S SAFE TO SAY ONLY GOD KNOWS THE TRUE ANSWERS TO THE DEEPER QUESTIONS LIKE WHAT LIES AT THE CORE OF THE EARTH. 

WHILE WE WOULD LOVE TO DIG DOWN TO THE CORE AND TAKE SOME EXACT MEASUREMENTS, IT SIMPLY ISN’T POSSIBLE WITH OUR CURRENT DRILLING TECHNOLOGY — AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE. THE KOLA SUPERDEEP BOREHOLE HAD TO STOP AT 12 KILOMETERS BECAUSE THE TEMPERATURE HAD ALREADY REACHED 180 CELSIUS (356F), AND WAS EXPECTED TO REACH 300C AT THE TARGET DEPTH OF 15KM — AT WHICH POINT, THE DRILL BIT WOULD CEASE TO WORK. THERE ARE NO DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES THAT WOULD EVEN COME CLOSE TO SURVIVING IN THE MANTLE, WHICH RANGES FROM 500C TO 4000C (PLUS, THERE’S NO OIL BEYOND THE CRUST, SO THERE’S NO NEED TO DEVELOP SUCH TECHNOLOGY…)

OVER FORTY YEARS AGO, RESEARCHERS IN THE SOVIET UNION BEGAN AN AMBITIOUS DRILLING PROJECT WHOSE GOAL WAS TO PENETRATE THE EARTH'S UPPER CRUST AND SAMPLE THE WARM, MYSTERIOUS AREA WHERE THE CRUST AND MANTLE INTERMINGLE-- THE MOHOROVIČIĆ DISCONTINUITY, OR "MOHO." SO DEEP IS THIS AREA THAT THE RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS HAD TO INVENT NEW WAYS OF DRILLING, AND SOME OF THEIR NEW METHODS PROVED QUITE INVENTIVE. BUT DESPITE THE VALIANT EFFORT WHICH SPANNED SEVERAL DECADES, THE RUSSIANS NEVER REACHED THEIR GOAL, AND MANY OF THE EARTH'S SECRETS WERE LEFT UNDISCOVERED.